John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We have just heard a speaker representing the government tell us about all the progress that has been made in Iraq in recent times, all the good things that are happening there. Let us have a look at the record. Let us try to see whether we can establish what is occurring in Iraq. These are some things that have happened in this calendar year. On 3 August, the outgoing British Ambassador to Iraq, William Patey, had a memo which was leaked. It was his final memo to the UK government. Ambassador Patey said:

The prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy.

On 3 August, two senior generals warned the US Senate Committee on Armed Services about the risk of civil war. General John P Abizaid, commander of US military operations in the Middle East, said:

The sectarian violence is probably as bad as I’ve seen it … If not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war.

The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, said:

We do have the possibility of that devolving to a civil war.

Is this the progress that Senator Ferguson is telling us about? Are these the good things that the government speakers wax lyrical about? Large numbers of tortured corpses, often headless and with hands bound, are being found on an almost daily basis in Baghdad, despite the launch of a joint US-Iraqi security operation in Baghdad, Operation Together Forward, on 7 August involving 12,000 US and Iraqi soldiers.

A secret intelligence report dated 16 August says that the US has lost control of Anbar province and there is almost nothing the US can do to regain control. The report that was leaked to the Washington Post finds that the Iraqi government institutions are inoperational and that the major political force in the province is al-Qaeda. Is this progress? Are these good things that the government tells us about? A Pentagon report to congress dated 1 September found:

Concern about civil war within the Iraqi civilian population and among some defense analysts has increased in recent months. Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq.

A United Nations report to the Security Council dated 1 September 2006 said that Iraq was now the most violent conflict in the world and that, on average, 100 civilians a day were being killed as a result of the conflict. There were 3,149 civilians killed in June and 3,438 civilians killed in July. Since February 2006 the United Nations believes that 200,000 people have been displaced. The United Nations warns that, if these trends continue, ‘The social and political fabric of the country could be endangered.’ Is this the progress that government speakers tell us about? Are these the good things the government speaks of?

According to a 1 September 2006 Pentagon report to the United States congress, Iraqi casualties increased by 50 per cent over the previous three months and insurgent attacks increased by 15 per cent. On 8 September this year the US Senate Intelligence Committee released a report which found that the US government knew before the war that there were no links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. On 21 September the United Nations released a report on the use of torture in Iraq saying that the use of torture today was worse than during Saddam Hussein’s regime. Is this the progress and good things that the government speakers speak of?

On 24 September the New York Times and Washington Post published reports of a leaked US National Intelligence Estimate, prepared by 16 intelligence agencies, which showed that the war in Iraq had increased the global terror threat. On 27 September the US released a declassified version of the key findings of the National Intelligence Estimate which said that Iraq had become a cause celebre for jihadists and that al-Qaeda was using the conflict to train recruits for other theatres. This is the progress and the good news that the government speaks of.

On 29 September former UK foreign secretary Jack Straw described the situation in Iraq as ‘dire’ and said that the US had made ‘mistakes’ in Iraq because it had not followed the advice of Colin Powell. On 11 October 2006 the British medical journal the Lancet published research conducted by the John Hopkins School of Medical Research showing that up to 654,965 Iraqi civilians had died as a result of the war in Iraq and that 601,000 of these had died as a result of violence.

On 13 October, the United Kingdom Army Chief of Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, told the Daily Mail that Britain should get out of Iraq soon and that the presence of foreign troops in Iraq was exacerbating the situation. Is this the good news and progress that government speakers have the hide to come in here and talk about?

On 15 October, it was reported that General Cosgrove had said that he had apologised to the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, for publicly disagreeing with his comments on involvement in Iraq increasing the terror threat. General Cosgrove said that it was ‘pretty obvious’ that the jihadist movement had been energised by the war in Iraq. Shiah politicians have put forward laws proposing the break-up of Iraq into autonomous provinces. The UN Secretary General has said, following a tour of the Middle East, that most leaders in the region believe that Iraq is a disaster and that Iraq is having a negative impact on their own security. George Bush declared that Iran was part of the ‘axis of evil’, but the invasion and its aftermath have driven Iraq closer to Iran and to religious extremism.

And just today we hear from Robert Gates, the man President George Bush has chosen to replace Donald Rumsfeld as US defence secretary after the recent US election made it inevitable that changes would have to be made to the administration’s policy in Iraq. At his Senate confirmation hearing, Mr Gates was asked by Senator Levin, ‘Mr Gates, do you believe that we are currently winning in Iraq?’ Robert Gates replied, ‘No, sir.’ He was asked by Senator McCain, ‘We are not winning the war in Iraq; is that correct?’ He replied, ‘That is my view, yes, sir.’ This is not progress. This is not good news. And these are all the reasons it is time for the Australian government to face up to the reality and the responsibility and work out an exit strategy.